Pseudo-Methodius used forged authorship to lend authority to anti-Islamic prophecy

Evidence

In this vision, the Muslim invasions become both the punishment God metes out to sinful Christians and the “testing furnace” meant to try the true Christians before the ultimate Christian victory. By attributing the Apocalypse to the respected church father Methodius and by placing it in the fourth century, the anonymous author passes off his descriptions of the Muslim invasions as authoritative, divinely inspired predictions of the invasions and hopes in turn to lend credibility to his predictions of imminent Christian victory over the “pagan” Ishmaelites. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 318

Categorization

• XREF: The pseudepigraphic strategy — backdating prophecy to the fourth century — is a forebear of genealogical origin-claims the vault traces in Anidjar/Aziz: asserting antiquity and authority for a fabricated tradition. — connects to: Octavian’s exposure of Antony’s alleged will was likely a forged propaganda weapon — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 310
• SEED: Forged authorship as a tool of religious-political persuasion: an essay comparing Pseudo-Methodius with other canonical pseudepigrapha (pseudo-Dionysius, pseudo-Isidorian decretals) as institutional credibility hacks.